The Office for Intellectual Freedom, the National Coalition Against Censorship, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund have developed an introduction to graphic novels for librarians. The guide is now available on the OIF page of the ALA website.

The following articles were posted on American Libraries Online:

Graphic Novels Draw Challenge in Missouri

A crowd of concerned citizens filled to overflowing the Marshall (Mo.) City Council chamber to discuss local resident Louise Mills’s challenge of two graphic-novel titles in the Marshall Public Library collection: Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel and Blankets by Craig Thompson. “My concern does not lie with the content of the novels, rather my concern is with the illustrations and their availability to children and the community,” Mills told the library board, which called the October 4 meeting, citing sexually explicit drawings in the two coming-of-age books.

Mills went on to explain that her concern centered on children stumbling onto the explicit illustrations after being attracted to the comic-book style of the titles. With photocopies of some of the images projected onto the meeting-room walls, Mills cautioned that collecting such material would lead to the library’s eventually drawing the same clientele as “the porn shop down at the junction,” according to the October 5 Marshall Democrat-News.

The majority of some 20 citizens who spoke seemed to back Mills. “I don’t want seedy people coming into the library and moving into our community,” local resident Sarah Aulgur remarked. “If it shouldn’t be on a billboard on I-70, it shouldn’t be in a public library,” agreed Mark Lockhart.

However, area resident Claudia Milstead thanked the library for acquiring the Bechdel and Thompson works. “I hope that you will find a way to keep the two books without offending the people who have expressed what I think are some very heartfelt concerns,” she said. Jeani Wilson also supported having a diversity of materials, saying “If you have only things that you like in a library then it is a private library.”

Board chair Anita Wright, who said the gathering was “what America is all about, to have a hearing to listen to views” wrapped up the two-hour session by assuring attendees that trustees “listened to every word, we are open-minded, we do care, and we want the library to be the best that it can be.” A decision is expected at the board’s October 11 meeting.

Posted October 6, 2006

The following article was posted on American Libraries Online:

Missouri Trustees Pull Graphic Novels, for Now

The board of the Marshall (Mo.) Public Library voted 7–1 October 11 to remove from circulation the two coming-of-age graphic novels Fun Home by Alison Bechdel and Blankets by Craig Thompson until trustees have codified a material-selection policy—a process that could take months to complete. “We will then have concrete guidelines for [the books’] appropriateness and for their placement if they are kept,” Board President Anita Wright explained to some 90 citizens who packed the meeting, according to the October 12 Marshall Democrat-News.

Explaining that trustees intended to craft “a lasting policy for any selections to be made in the future,” Wright asserted, “At no point will the policy be written with an attempt to ‘work around’ the materials in question.” Louise Mills, who made the reconsideration request, agreed, telling the Democrat-News, “The policy is definitely needed because currently anything can be brought in or taken out by [the library director].”

“Both board members and staff members will work together on the policy committee,” MPL Director Amy Crump told American Libraries, explaining that “for a variety of reasons” the 16-year-old library has never had written collection-development guidelines.

Posted October 13, 2006.

An informal poll conducted on marshallnews.com, the Web site of The Marshall Democrat-News, asked "Should two graphic novels be banned from the public library?"
The final tally was in favor of not banning the books, with 71.5 percent (216 votes) voting "no" and 28.5 percent (86 votes) voting "yes" in favor of the ban.

The MLA IFC plans to develop a program on collection development issues for the 2007 MLA Conference in Springfield MO.